SOBYTIE / The Event

In August 1991, a failed coup d’état in Moscow by a group of communist reactionaries expedited the demise of the ailing Soviet Union. As the hammer and sickle that flew over the Kremlin was replaced by the tricolor of the Russian Federation, the event was hailed around the world as marking the fall of communism and the birth of Russian democracy. A quarter of a century later Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa follows Maidan, his monumental documentary about the historic protests in Kiev, with the found-footage epic, a powerful montage film that revisits a crucial turning point in Russian history.

SERGEI LOZNITSA was born in Belarus and grew up in the Ukraine. He studied at the Russian State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK). He has received numerous national and international awards for his documentary films. His feature debut My Joy premiered in the main competition at the Cannes International Film Festival 2010. In 2015, CROSSING EUROPE devoted its Tribute to Sergei Loznitsa. // Films (selection): Blokada (Blockade, 2005, doc; CE’15), Schastye moe (My Joy, 2010; CE’15), V Tumane (In the Fog, 2012; CE’13, CE’15), Maidan (2014; CE ’15), Sobytie (The Event, 2015, doc)